"Red-envelope grab? Why are we grabbing red envelopes in the middle of a perfectly good Martial Arts Competition?"
Principal Zhang Youde couldn't quite keep up with Taihua Tianji's train of thought.
This True Man Tai Bai seemed even less reliable than his daughter!
Taihua Tianji explained:
"Principal Zhang, you know me. I can take one look at Qi Cultivation Stage juniors and tell exactly how skilled they are. Whether they make a move or not makes no difference to me."
"There are two reasons I'm having them grab red envelopes."
"First, it's to test the students' reaction speed. If you want to make a name for yourself in martial arts, you have to be quick-witted and always one step ahead of everyone else."
"Second, I want to see how lucky each of them is. Even the best phone can have fluctuations in its connection speed, so the red envelopes won't necessarily appear at the same time for everyone."
"Whoever sees the red envelope appear on their phone first clearly has good luck."
Zhang Youde: "..."
Damn it, that actually made a certain amount of sense.
As for why Taihua Tianji was so hung up on the students' luck—
If it had been anyone else, Zhang Youde would've asked for an explanation. But coming from Taihua Tianji, the industry's walking jinx, believing in that sort of thing was only natural.
In the end, Zhang Youde had no choice but to agree to the red-envelope-grabbing competition.
He had the eight contestants add him as a contact, then put them and Taihua Tianji in a group chat.
Su Yuan held his phone and stared at the group chat he'd just joined, feeling conflicted.
This True Man Tai Bai had to have more than the two reasons he'd just mentioned for holding a red-envelope contest.
He was definitely getting back at Su Yuan! No doubt about it!
The moment Su Yuan thought of how his sure thing had suddenly become a one-in-eight chance, he felt a headache coming on.
He looked at his phone, an old model from three years ago. Its surface was etched with all the dings and scrapes it had picked up over the years.
Then he looked at everyone else's phones. Damn it, they were all this year's new models.
The spiritual-energy network might fluctuate, but newer phones were obviously faster!
His actual odds of winning were probably less than one in eighty.
"How am I supposed to win this?"
Su Yuan felt as though darkness had fallen before his eyes.
But just as the red-envelope contest was about to begin, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind.
Did his phone count as a magical artifact according to the system?
Could Demonic Cultivation Technique · Finger Artifact be used on a phone?
A phone was a crystallization of Modern Cultivation Technology, after all. Why wouldn't it count as a magical artifact?
As soon as the thought struck him, Su Yuan wasted no time and immediately activated Demonic Cultivation Technique · Finger Artifact!
The next second, as spiritual energy drained away, Su Yuan somehow formed a connection with his phone.
Demonic Cultivation Technique · Finger Artifact had worked!
A virtual affection score appeared above the phone.
[Affection: 220]!
Seeing that astonishing affection score and feeling the faint fondness and attachment coming from the phone's weak emotions, Su Yuan was moved!
Even without the 100 affection points automatically added by the demonic cultivation technique, his phone still had 120 affection for him—more than enough to activate Spirit Joy.
Su Yuan couldn't help thinking of a saying.
A phone had a lifespan of three to five years, while a cultivator could live for over a hundred. To a cultivator, a phone was just a passing visitor, but to the phone, you were its whole life.
So put aside the odd jobs around you and spend more time with your phone!
Had Su Yuan done that?
He had!
As a broke loser, he didn't dare travel or spend money at entertainment venues. When he had time to rest, the only thing he could do was keep his phone company.
Still calling it a phone?
The smart ones had already started calling theirs "wife"!
"Please help me one more time."
Su Yuan gazed tenderly at the treasure that had stayed by his side longer than anything else and murmured softly.
The faint will inside the phone began to answer Su Yuan's hopes with all its might!
In that moment, their consciousnesses merged. Man and machine became one!
Spirit Joy!
Go beyond your limits, my love!
The next moment, Taihua Tianji lowered the finger hovering above his phone and sent the red envelope.
Almost at the same time, a red-envelope notification appeared on all eight contestants' phones!
A finger tapped down!
After less than a tenth of a second of loading, the contestants glanced at the opened red envelope and saw seven big characters staring back at them!
[You were too slow. The red envelope is gone.]
"Holy crap!"
Someone cried out and hurriedly looked at the account that had claimed the red envelope.
AAA Su Yuan (Part-time @ Taihua High School)
The account's profile picture was a sheet of paper covered in dense writing.
Homework writer, food runner, mover, parcel sorter, waiter, barbecue chef, bubble tea shop worker, delivery rider, security guard, flyer distributor...
What the hell was all this?!
It took them a good while to pick Su Yuan's name out of the dense advertisement plastered across the account.
They all turned to look at Su Yuan, who was standing with his hands behind his back, exuding the air of someone looking down on the whole world.
His clothes were a little dirty.
"Holy crap! This Su Yuan guy, why is he so awful?!"
One of the contestants was speechless.
It should've been impossible to cheat at a red-envelope grab, right? Had Su Yuan won through skill or luck?
Taihua Tianji studied the person who'd claimed the red envelope, then looked at his daughter, who'd somehow ended up beside him.
The White-haired Loli stared at Su Yuan with such excitement, as if she were looking at a mountain of gold. Even her old man couldn't help feeling jealous.
"Evil! So evil! Big Brother can even CPU a magical artifact! Just how many surprises does he have in store that I don't know about?"
The White-haired Loli gazed at the phone in Su Yuan's hand, which was oozing black smoke, her golden eyes glittering.
With one hand on her hip, the little girl pointed at the seven contestants who'd failed and sneered:
"I already told you that you were nothing but worthless fish and shrimp next to Big Brother Su Yuan. Well, look at you now—you brought this humiliation on yourselves!"
Su Yuan: "..."
She was still hyping him up! Still hyping him up!
Could somebody do something about this bratty little gremlin?!
And after the White-haired Loli had mocked them again and again, Huang Sheng, who had a short fuse to begin with, finally couldn't take it anymore!
But with a Golden Core True Person like Taihua Tianji right there, he wouldn't dare lay a hand on the White-haired Loli.
"Su Yuan, you're first in the Martial Arts Competition, right? If you've got the guts, spar with me!"
Huang Sheng roared and swung a punch straight at Su Yuan.
Clearly, with the Martial Arts Competition about to end, he was trying to take a desperate gamble and show off.
There was no denying that Huang Sheng's sudden punch was a good one. It was powerful and heavy, and his mastery of boxing had actually reached the great success level.
Facing the towering figure charging at him with such force, Su Yuan took a deep breath. In that instant, all the negative emotions absorbed by Fury Heart Attack were converted into a boost.
The boost, which could reach up to sixty percent of a cultivator's own strength, was instantly pushed to its limit!
The next moment, Su Yuan gathered the explosive power in his body into a single force. He neither dodged nor retreated, instead punching straight into Huang Sheng's incoming fist!
BOOM—
Accompanied by a piercing shriek that ripped through the air and the crisp crack of breaking bones, Huang Sheng—the sturdy Physical Education Department student who weighed over two hundred pounds—was sent flying like a cannonball, slamming hard into the athletic field.
He rolled more than a dozen times across the ground like a boneless rag doll, then finally lay there, motionless.
"Whew. That felt great at last."
Su Yuan slowly lowered his smoking fist, looking utterly satisfied.
Before you continue